Hangul……….Cervus elephus hanglu
BEST SEEN AT: Dachigam National Park
STATUS: Schedule I/Critically Endangered
GOOD TO KNOW: The big ‘master’ stags sound a distinctive roar during the rutting season
STATUS: Schedule I/Critically Endangered
GOOD TO KNOW: The big ‘master’ stags sound a distinctive roar during the rutting season
THIS INDIAN representative of the European red deer is a handsome creature. The stag sports a magnificent crown of antlers and is essentially a loner. However, he may occasionally join a harem in autumn, the mating season. Thats when the great valleys resound with the rutting roar of the hangul. But for how long? You could say the hangul is amongst the rarest deers in the world. Just 217 hanguls (the range being 201 to 234) are confined within their only habitat the 141 sq km of Dachigam National Park. Even this tiny kingdom has shrunk. Upper Dachigam, the high-elevation summer home of the deer, has been lost to grazers and militancy; the rest of the park is encroached by a trout farm, a sheep breeding unit, a fancy guesthouse and the city of Srinagar. Habitat loss and degradation are not the only threats the hangul faces. The future of the deer is especially precarious due to a skewed sex ratio with very few males and a very high mortality of fawns. Besides, in the troubled valley of Kashmir, they continue to live under the shadow of the gun.
PRERNA SINGH BINDRA
From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 31, Dated August 08, 2009
From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 31, Dated August 08, 2009